Amid Serial Killer Search, a Woman Remains Missing

Police searched the brush by the side of the road on Cedar Beach back in December.

Back in December, a Suffolk County police officer decided to train his cadaver-detecting dog named Blue. He set out in search of Shannan Gilbert, a prostitute who went missing seven months earlier after visiting a man in Oak Beach, N.Y.

That ordinary training run turned up four dead bodies and touched off a high-priority search along a stretch of Long Island beaches. Police believe the area has been used by a serial killer as a dumping grounds for his victims. Four more bodies have been discovered, including the skeletal remains of three people found Monday.

None of the bodies, however, is Gilbert.

The Suffolk County Police found no more bodies during a day-long search Tuesday. “It has been determined that the three most recent sets of remains…are not those of Shannan Gilbert,” police officials said.

The four bodies found in December have been identified. They are all white women in their 20s who worked as prostitutes and advertised on the website Craigslist. All four went missing between July 2007 and September 2010.

The fifth body, found last week, has not yet been identified. But police have said with certainty that it isn’t Gilbert. The same goes for the three bodies found on Monday, along a stretch of beaches about a mile from those found in December. None have been identified, but police said that Gilbert’s remains are not among them.

Gilbert’s family couldn’t be reached for comment Tuesday.

She disappeared on May 1 after going to the home of an Oak Beach man who had solicited her for prostitution through Craigslist. Her missing poster issued by the Jersey City Police describes her as bipolar and a user of cocaine and prescription drugs. Police said she was last seen running from a neighbor’s home near the man she visited, trailed by her driver.

In December, police searched the SUV belonging to the Oak Beach man after obtaining his permission to do so. Afterward they declared that he wasn’t a suspect.

Laura Coletti lives in the same gated community as the man whom Gilbert visited in May. Coletti said she hasn’t seen him around recently. She also said police were scouring their neighborhood, known as the Oak Island Beach Association, once again this week.

“They were everywhere,” Coletti said of the police presence. “It’s pretty scary…Basically it’s upsetting to all of us who live here. It’s not a good thing. That’s all I can say. It’s not a good thing.”